Decrepit
by miss selah
Summary: Because they have no other choice Sesshoumaru Kagome Completed Epilogue
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

He would come to her, because she would claim that she had forgotten.

But the horrible truth, the truth she could barely stand to admit to herself, was that she hadn't.

But he wouldn't have expected her to.

He was a bit of an engima to her, he knew. She still couldn't understand why he seemed to need her so much. But that was fine by him. She happened to be something of a mystery to him as well. What manner of creature cares for others _above_ their own safety? Nothing human, to be sure. And it certainly whatever species she would call him. She was. . . different.

And she was late.

"Kagome . ." He whispered her name on the wind in a dragged out voice, emphasizing each syllable and he knew she would come. She had no other choice. Her nature compeled her to. . . just as his demanded that he claim her for his own.

She was stirring in the camp, getting ready to come to him before she even awoke. Maybe that was for the best. She did always seem to have such a strong aversion to him. But she would come. She had no other choice.

But she did. There was another choice for her. The other was an unacceptable one, he knew, and she would not chose it. Which was why he wasn't worried. She would claim to have forgotten. . . claimed that she didn't know he had come for her. . . she had before, she would again. But as long as she remained as she was - and she always would – he knew he could have her whenever he wanted.

And he wanted her _now._

She became aware of her surroundings when cool beads of water began to drop heavily on her face. She knew that he hadn't made it rain, but sometimes it seemed that he had an uncanny flair for dramatic entrances.

But she made great exits.

The spell he had woven over her was thick, leaving her no chance of escape. She knew what that meant. . . something had changed. He had always left room for her to escape before, whether intentionally or not, and it meant that tonight, he wasn't just going to _take_ her. . .

He was going to take her away.

When she saw his face, a picture of serenity in the vast sea of dark water falling from the sky, she thought of her friends. She had never hated before, and part of being friends was that you couldn't _really_ hate each other, right? But never the less. . .

If they had truly been her friends, they would have known. Hadn't they seen how much quieter she had been? Hadn't they noticed that her reserved nature, and realized that something was wrong? No. . . they noticed the jewel. If they had truly been her friends, they would have noticed her too.

He stepped out of the shelter of the trees and towards her, making quick steps across the clearing. "You didn't come to me." He said quietly. Kagome stared at him enviously. Oh, to be someone like him! To be so powerful even the rain wouldn't dare fall on him! Now, Sesshoumaru was someone who could protect his friends, his family, the people he cared about.

But at what price? She had often wondered. What had he given up? Everyone gave up something. For her friends well being, Kagome gave up her life. Sesshoumaru seemed as if he had nothing to lose.

If only she had known it was because he had already lost it all.

"I forgot." She lied between her teeth. How could she have possibly forgot? He was always there, a wisp of fog at the front of her mind. He took away everything from her. . . even her last few days of freedom.

If he had a smile left in his soul, he would have given it to her. If he had a chance at happiness, he would have reached out and soothed her hair away from her eyes. And if he had cared, he would have left her alone.

"No you didn't." He said simply, and glanced disapprovingly at her clothes. "You are no common whore, Miko. Do not dress as one."

Kagome felt her angry simmering to a boil. "No, not a common whore, Sesshoumaru. Just yours."

Sesshoumaru moved so quickly Kagome didn't see it. He was simply. . . there, He grabbed her arm in a warning, letting a breath of acid seep out, etching the print of his hand much deeper than any slap could have. Kagome's face contorted in pain even as she congratulated her self on not crying out in agony.

"You are not a whore. You are my _mistress_. I expect you to remember that." Sesshoumaru said with a sneer.

Kagome nodded solemnly, knowing that there was nothing she could do now. Nothing she would do to get herself out of the situation at hand.

"If you had just let me take his life, you could have lived." Sesshoumaru said, nto bothering to glance at her as he moved slowly deeper in to the forest. He knew she would follow.

Kagome shook her head and followed as she was supposed to. "You swore an oath to me, Lord Sesshoumaru, that you would not harm Inuyasha or anyone I care about." Kagome whispered. "And what proof will I have- no, what proof do I have- that you will not hurt them anyways?"

Sesshoumaru was silent in his walk. He made no move to answer her, and she made no move to push him. But then, that was the way they worked.

She knew it was pointless to wait for a response. That if she was waiting for him to give her proof that he wasn't a double-crosser, she had better not hold her breath.

Which made it very odd when he did answer her.

"You have no proof. But then, I don't need to give it to you. I could kill them, right now, and still take you with me. Don't ever forget that I am simply granting you a boon right now, miko."

She followed him because she had no other option. As she watched him walk before her, his hair swaying to the rhythm of his movements, she swore that she would hate him forever.

But then, she had no other option.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

I hate you.

The words came so easily to her mind. She tried – oh god did she try – but everytime she had thought that she thought that she was so angry that she could just utter those three condeming words aloud, she lost her nerve and held on to her silence. But then, that was just her.

He wanted her with every fiber of his being. He took her that first night five times. The first two to get her out of his system, the last three because this time _he_ was the one with no other option. It was a sick, strange cycle in which every time he took her, he needed more. He was an addict, he knew. But if he was addicted, she was his poison. And she was his antidote.

They didn't talk much- him, because it wasn't in his nature, her, because she didn't know what one said to their master – and there was no question as to who he was. He dominated her in every way, shape, and form. . . and she; well, she the one who always seemed to cave in.

Which was exactly why, she supposed, it had been such a shock to the both of them when he was the first to break the horrid silence.

"Are you hungry?" He had asked her.

She shook her head, though she knew that she was. She was used to eating three meals a day, and she hadn't eaten in nearly twenty four hours. She knew, if she said yes, he would have stopped the small procession and allowed her to eat from the small saddle bag that rested on Ah-Uh's back . . . but she also knew that if she had said yes, he would have taken it as a sign of weakness on her behalf. Oh no, she wasn't stopping to eat. Not until he did.

But of course he wouldn't have taken it as a sign of weakness. He knew she was human. . . he cursed the very fact. And he knew that, as a human, she would require a softer treatment than he would. And not only was she human. . . she was a female. He knew that if he wanted to keep her for a good number of years, he would have to take good care of her.

If he woud have told her that, she would have been offended, but she wouldn't have said anything. She had learned her place early on, and knew that if she tried to rebel, she wouldn't be sacrificing her own life. . .

She would be sacrificing her friend's lives.

She knew that he was granting her a gift. A boon, perhaps, for his new mistress. She knew that if he had _really_ wanted to, he would have killed them all anyways and _still_ have taken her for himself. He had granted her an enormous favor, and she knew that her disobedience would immediately end his good graces.

Which was not something she could afford to happen any time soon.

But despite the fact that Kagome had claimed to not be hungry, her stomach growled, as if to simple defy her for not feeding it in so long. She wrapped her arms around her belly and lowered her head, now red with embarassment, in shame.

Sesshoumaru halted so suddenly that Kagome, who had been to busy cursing herself to pay attention to where she was being lead, nearly plowed in to him. But if Sesshoumaru had noticed her lack of attention, he made no mention of it. Rather, he picked her up easily and placing her on Ah-Uh's back. "Eat." He demanded, shoving her back pack under her nose with a snarl.

Kagome shook her head and glared at him. "I already told you, I am not hungry." Her stomach growled again, and whatever color that had managed to previously drain out of her face was back once more.

Sesshoumaru growled, a low sound that came from the back of his throat. "Your body tells me otherwise, and you have a tendancy to lie to me, even if it may cause distress to your own health. _Eat._" He commanded.

"_I'm not hungry._" Kagome insisted, thought her body craved the nurishment he offered. But she refused. If she accepted this from him, then soon she would begin to accept other things. . . and she knew better than to accept anything from this man.

"Then I shall make you eat." Sesshoumaru informed her as he reached in to her back pack and found what he had been searching for- a small, oddly wrapped bar of grains that he had seen her eat once before- a granola bar, he belived she called it. Quickly, he tore the wrapper and bite off a piece. Before Kagome realized what he was doing, Sesshoumaru's mouth had descended upon hers and he had transferred the food from his mouth to hers.

He retreated as soon as the task was done. Kagome made a move to spit out the granola bar, but at the searing look Sesshoumaru gave her, she thought better of it. Taking it quickly, she chewed and swallowed the rest of the bar and moved to jump off of the back of the dragon.

But Sesshoumaru wouldn't let her do that.

"Let me pass, Lord Sesshoumaru." She commanded quietly in a voice fit for a queen.

Her words went unheard by Sesshoumaru. "You are so beautiful." He said after a long moment. Reaching up, he captured a single strand of her hair and held it to the moonlight. "So very, very beautiful." Leaning in, he kissed the silky smooth strand before moving in closer.

He trailed thin lipped kisses down her neck, tasting and savoring in a silent hell. What right did the gods have to make her so perfect? What right did they have to not give her to him? Why did he have to always _force_ her to come to him?

If only he knew. . .

Kagome bit back a moan under his administrations. If only he knew that he had only to ask her to come to him, she would. She couldn't help it. . . didn' want to stop it. If he asked her too, she would come to him on hand and knee, begging for him. If he left her be, she would follow him silently. She hated him so very much.

But then, she hated him because in reality. . .

. . . she couldn't help loving him.

Sesshoumaru ceased when he felt her go stiff beneath him. Glancing up at her, he saw a cold look upon her face, and he knew that once again, he was losing her.

Backing away quietly, he grabbed the reins of Ah-Uh and lead them after him, Kagome still perched royally upon his back.

"Why do you always come for me?" She asked after a long moment.

"Why do you care to know?" Was his response.

"For the same reason as everything else." She muttered, staring off in to the distance. But secretly, she was watching _him._

"And what reason is that, Kagome?"

Of course she wouldn't tell him that it was because she couldn't help it.

"Would you like to hear a story?" He asked her when the silence wore on too long for his tastes.

Kagome shrugged. "Sure." She answered and examined her fingernails in fake boredom.

"Once upon a time there was a Lady who was so beautiful that men would give their very lives for her." Sesshoumaru smiled softly, as if nostalgic. "Yes. . . they would give _anything_. . . for her. . ."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"_But Ookasan, it's not fair! Why do I have to stay indoors!" A tiny human princess screamed as she wriggled out of the scrap of fabric her mother had donned on her. _

_The "mother" in question, a demoness by the name of Sephies who was actually the child's nurse maid, sighed heavily. "Orihime, you know the rules. You musn't play outside while your father as other members of the royal court over. What if one of the young masters were to see you, Ri-chan? Then what? You know that you aren't allowed to be seen by outsiders."_

_Orihime slumped to the ground in exhaustperation and crossed her arms in the universal female sign of annoyance. "I don't believe this. Just because father decided to have some stupid court ruling, I have to stay inside." Orihime pouted. "It's not fair." _

_Sephie shook her head. "You are such a bad example of what a princess should be." She said with a mocking grin. _

_Orihime looked up and gave her a quick grin, and Sephie nearly sighed in appreciation. Sephie was no fool. Even at the young age of fourteen, already she could see what a beautiful creature this human child was. As if the legends were true and the gods themselves had played a part in making her, she might have not had the personality of the perfect princess, but without a doubt, she had the makings of one. Her long black hair cascaded in waves down her back, accentuating her pale skin and giving her an almost doll like appearance. Blue eyes stared up wickedly beneath thin bangs and arching brows, and were normally alight with mischeive. Her lips had plumped, giving her an almost pouty look all the time. _

_  
She had required little prodding to get the posture right. Orihime was a natural born princess. . . her figure had always been regal, even when she was first learning to walk. It was as if, Sephies thought with a small smile, she had known what she was born to be. _

"_Ookasan?" Orihime asked after Sephie hadn't spoken for a moment. _

_Sephie's eyes snapped open and met her pleading ones. With a sigh, Sephie caved. "Alright. . . nobody is allowed in the Queen's gardens. I will take you to play in the hedge maze."_

_Taking in a quick gasp of breath, Orihime quickly threw her shift back on and slipped in to a chinese styled dress her father had prcured for her on his last trip to the Chinese lands. It was much, much lighter than her heavy kimono and she wore it much more often. _

_Giggling, she took Sephie's hand and hurried her along the darkened hallways and to the court yard. _

_He heard her before he ever saw her. _

_A soft laughing that did something strange to his insides. _

_Curious. . . he thought as he slipped out of the inner castle after the melodic sound. _

"_Hurry up, Ookasan!" The laughing voice ushered. _

"_I'm coming, I'm coming. Run on ahead in to the maze. I'll count to one hundered and come after you!" Her "mother" answered._

_Reaching the entrance to the Queen's gardens, he wasn't surprised when the two stationed gaurds informed him that he wasn't allowed to pass. It had surprised him, however, that they had thought it would stop him. _

_Grinning, and knowing that when his father found out, he would kill him, the young demon named Sesshoumaru leapt over the tall hedges with a practiced ease. He landed quietly, though, he thought with a wince, not quietly enough that his father would praise him for eloquence. His form was still sloppy, and he realized that he needed to fix that._

_Walking quickly along the hedge, his trailed one and over the leaves as he walked towards the sound of her heavy panting, indicating that she was running. His blood simmered slightly, and he quickly beat down the instinct to take flight after her. _

_He was young for a demon- only seventy-five, though, in his current humanoid form, he took on the appearance of a fifteen or sixteen year old. Normally, and this was still true in the case of demon lords as well, he would not have been able to defeat his instincts so easily at such a young age. But his father, knowing that soon Sesshoumaru would be the one that he would leave his land to, had been training him since infancy to take up the crown in his place. _

_Of course, that didn't mean he was very good at being a lord. _

_As the lord of the western lands, he would be expected many things- to rule better than his father ever had, to be stong, and to produce strong offspring that could one day be stronger than he had ever been. _

_Of course, he thought, rubbing his head in humor, he wasn't very good at any of those things. _

_Oh sure, he could fight almost anyone under the table. But it was cold refinment that he truly lacked. A refinement that his father had perfected, and had been trying to teach him since a young age. But his old man, being a truly benevolent person at heart, couldn't make him self do the any of the things that were guranteed to force Sesshoumaru, his only son, in to being as cold as he. As much as he would tell the boy otherwise, especially when he was training him, Inutaisho did love his son very much, and wanted him to have a better life than he. _

_The heavy breathing had slowed, and Sesshoumaru knew that he was growing closer to his quary. _

_He could smell her now- soft and young and tender. She had the scent of a human- sweat and death, both of which caused by the never ending demise of her cells- but she had something else. She wore no perfumes, as most royals did in this day and age, and still managed to smell sweet. Like. . . snapping his fingers, Sesshoumaru placed the scent. A cotton candy! Like a sweet sugar that would dissolve if you licked it. (Author cocks one eyebrow in perversion.) _

_A soft melody, ode to joy, reached his ears. She was humming, he realized as he turned wrong again. Turning right, then wrong again, he quickened his pace as she reached the chorus of her symphony. Turn right, turn wrong, turn right, turn wrong. . . _

_Finally, the hedges parted and he arrive in the center of the maze to see her for the first time. His breath caught in his throat. Well, that was the most beautiful female he had ever seen. She was already showing the beginnings of curves, and they were only excentuated by the blue silk chinese dress that she wore to match her eyes. She hadn't heard him, and continued to hum as she played on the fountain that graced the center of the maze. She had her little hands in the water, and was toying with the koi fish, letting them twist and wriggle between her fingers. _

_Sesshoumaru was so stunned that he fell to one knee. Could this possibly be the Princess, Orihime?_

_His soft fall alerted her of his presence, and turning in shook, she was surprised and worried that anyone but her Ookasan would be in the maze with her. _

"_Who are you? What are you doing in the Queen's gardens?" She inquired, standing up regally before the fountain. _

_Sesshoumaru stood quickly. So maybe this wasn't the princess. . . It wasn't unheard of for a royal child to call her parents by their titles, but it left him room of doubt. _

"_What are you doing in here?" She repeated, taking a quick step back. _

_Sesshoumaru quickly held up a single clawed hand. "No wait! Don't go! I'm sorry to disturb you, but I. . . I heard you and wanted to see you." He explained realizing almost immediately how much he sounded like a stalker. _

_Orihime's tensed muscles loosened. "Who are you?" _

_Sesshoumaru bowed deeply and formally. "My name is Sesshoumaru Taisho of the Western lands. Will you grace this Sesshoumaru with your companionship?" _

_Orihime looked skeptical, and turned to the hedges where she heard Sephie crashing through. "Orihime! I am coming! I wonder if she's at the maze fountain. . ." Orihime sighed and ran forward, grabbing Sesshoumaru's hand. _

"_Quickly." She whispered as she took off running, dragging him along after her. "If we hurry, she won't find us. Then we can talk." _

_Sesshoumaru looked over his shoulder, and, wanting to gain more time with the girl, picked her up under one arm and leapt skywards over the tall hedges once more, taking them quickly to another part of the maze. _

_Sesshoumaru put Orihime on the ground and she squealed with laughter. "That was so much fun!" She said, clapping her hands together. Still giggling, she bowed softly, her eyes never leaving his. "I am Princess Orihime Higurashi of the Main lands, and I am pleased to make your aquintance." She said in a soft, prim voice that seemed to turn her from a child to a Queen in only a moment. _

_Sesshoumaru smiled softly. "So then you are the Princess." He mummbled as he began to walk with her. _

_Orihime nodded. "Umm hmm. . ." Suddenly, she remembered. "I'm not supposed to be outside right now. . ." She muttered, throwing him a glance that pleaded with him not to rat her out. _

_Sesshoumaru lifted both hands. "Hey, I'm not supposed to be in the gardens, let alone playing with the Main Lands Princess." _

_Orihime smiled. "I suppose you're right." She said, laughing. "What's your reason? For not being allowed to play?" _

_Sesshoumaru smiled. "I'm allowed to play. . . I'm just not allowed to fratrunize."_

_Orihime stared up at him. "What does that word mean?" She asked naïvely._

_Sesshoumaru tapped a single finger to his lips and called up the definition in his head. "Oh, it's a verb. It means to spend time with people you aren't supposed to, usually." _

_Orihime clapped. "Wow. . . I can't define words for the life of me! My school teacher's hate it!" she admitted sheepishly. _

_Sesshoumaru grinned. "Well, I do have a pretty good memory!" It was a photographic one, though he wouldn't know that word for centuries. _

_Orihime sighed. "I wish that I had one of those. . . she mumbled with a quick grin. "So, what's with your markings? Are you a demon or something?" _

_Sesshoumaru nodded. "Well, yeah." He stopped in his tracks. "You aren't afraid of demons, are you?"_

_Orihime grinned and touched her biceps, showing them off. "You see this? I don't need to be afraid! I could whip any boy, demon or not, who tried to bother me!" She said, right before she tripped over a fallen hedge branch. _

_Sesshoumaru caught her laughingly and pulled a leaf that had fallen in her hair out. "Yeah, real perfect martial arts form." He said with a grin. _

_Orihime laughed. "I said that I could whip boys. . . I didn't say anything about not being a clumsy ditz." She said, lightly tapping the top of her own head with a fist. _

_Sesshoumaru smiled, and for the first time in a long time, he wished that time would flow more slowly. _

_Orihime watched the skies above them change deep hues. She quickly pulled on one of his sleeves. "May you take me up there so that I can watch the sun set?" She asked hopefully as she pointed to the top of the hedges. _

_Sesshoumaru smiled and picked her up. "I've got a better idea. . ." He whispered against her ear as he leapt once again skywards, and left the castle grounds. _

_Racing quickly along the ground, he took her to the edge of the ocean before he finally stopped. He was panting slightly, but not so much that she could hear him. She sat down in the sand smiled, watching the sun sink low on the horizon. _

"_I love these things. I love the morning, I love the night. But I really, really love it when they mix together. . . like this." She tapped her finger to her lips. "I really love it when they. . . fratrunize!" _

_Sesshoumaru chuckled. "That's not how the word is used." He told her and sat down next to her. _

_Orihime shrugged. "Meh. I'm sure you won't tell anyone." She told him with a smile. _

_Slowly, as not to startle her, Sesshoumaru slipped his hand on to hers on the beach, and they watched the last colors bleed out of the sky._

Kagome blinked. She had no idea that Sesshoumaru was such a good story teller!

He had been telling her the story of a young demon and a young princess for may hours, leaving out no detail. The princess, Orihime, was a cute girl, she thought with a smile, but the lord, Maru, as Sesshoumaru called him. . . she couldn't place how he seemed familiar. At first Kagome had thought that Sesshoumaru had fashioned Maru after himself, but that made no sense, as Maru seemed a little carefree, and a bit of a trouble maker.

Sesshoumaru watched the sun begin to rise and stopped walking. Tying Ah-Uh to a tree, he quickly informed Kagome that she could sleep now.

Kagome blinked. "But. . . you haven't finished the story!" She complained with a sigh, for the moment, forgetting that this _wasn't_ some bard to entertain her. . . this was her master.

Sesshoumaru tucked a lock of her hair behind her ears with a strange look in his eyes. Kagome thought it was disgust. Sesshoumaru thought it was sweet.

"I'll tell you some more of it tonight. For now, get some rest. We have a lot of walking left to do if we want to reach the western lands in a few days." Sesshoumaru said as he leapt skywards, leaving her alone in the waking morning.

She sighed as she lay down to sleep. It figured that Sesshoumaru was nocturnal.

Anonymous Fangirl: Wanna hear the rest of the story? Then review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Sesshoumaru lay on the top branches of the tree he had claimed as his own, his hands laying passive beneath his head, his fingers laced through his silvered locks. His golden eyes were locked on the skies above, counting millions of even more golden stars. And secretly, he was watching her sleep.

She had rolled over on to her side and had a slight smile gracing her face. It made him want to smile as well. Of course, she would never had smiled at him if she was awake. She knew her place, almost as well as he did. But still – it didn't matter to him that she was not his equal. It didn't matter to him that she was not born a demon. It should have. And the fact that it didn't. . .

Well, it just meant that he was a little senile.

"Sesshoumaru. . ." His overtly sensitve hearing picked up from the forest floor. Gracing her with a sidways look out of his eyes, he saw that she hadn't awoken – she was talking to him in her sleep.

"Sesshoumaru. . ." She mummbled again, a little incoherntly this time since she had rolled on to her arm, and her mouth was muffled by her sleeve.

This time Sesshoumaru gave her a little more than a passing side glance. Turning on his branch, he removed his eyes from the stars and began to watch a beauty of a different nature.

Oh, she was a beauty. All curves and lines, she was exactly what he shouldn't want, as a member of the royal household. She was, by no means, a beauty of this time, but there was a time – the time when Maru first met Orihime – that she would have been reveled for her features. She was perfect for birthing – her hips would ensure an easy delivery. And her legs – long, and just a little lanky – would fit perfectly, wrapped around his waist. Had fit perfectly many times before.

She shivered in her sleep and curled in to herself. Sesshoumaru grabbed on to his branch and swung down, curving as graceful as a gymnast to the ground. He stood above her for a long moment and wondered what in the world made beauty. Her features, on any one else, would not have made such a creature. But her features – her nose that crinkled at the bridge when she managed to laugh, her doe brown eyes that he imagined staring at him with a soft devotion – _those_ were what made her beautiful.

"Sesshoumaru. . ." She whispered one more time before he knelt beside her a stripped himself of his pelt. He layed the soft fur atop her, and tipped her gently on her side so that it could wrap around her easier. Kagome smiled and nuzzled in to the silver pelt in her sleep, drawing out the warmth that lingered there.

She mummbled something again, this time so incoherntly that even he couldn't pick it up. But he could see, to his obvious satisfaction, that she was happy, and so with one last carress, he touched her cheek and smiled. "Good night, Kagome. . ." He whispered to her reverntly before he returned to his high perch and resumed counting the golden stars. And out of the corner of his eye, he was watching an entirely different kind of beauty.

Kagome nuzzled further in to an unexpected warmth. _What is this?_ She wondered to herself. _This scent seems so. . ._

. . . _Familiar._

_Orihime smiled and spun in a single fast circle before Sephies. "I think that I am in love!" She squealed wih joy. "I'm so happy I think I may explode!" She admitted with a feminine burst of laughter. _

_Sephie stared, worried. She had searched for hours for Orihime in the maze, and when she hadn't found her, she hadn't alerted the gaurds immediately. Instead, she had decided that Orihime had snuck out, as was common for her, and decided o wait for her back in the Citadel. Orihime was smart enough to not get caught. But. . . _

_Though she had figured that Orihime had managed to mouse her way out of the hedge maze, she hadn't expected for her to be dropped off on the balcony – near midnight, no less – by the Future Heir to the Western lands. _

_Even though Sephie was worried for Orihime, she had permitted her to see Sesshoumaru the past two days. But now she was worried that maybe she should have just kept them seperated from the start. _

"_Orihime. . . you shouldn't speak of such things os loudly." Sephie warned as she ran a brush through the black mane of silk Orihime called hair. _

_Orihime smiled. "I know. . . but I feel so great! I know I just met him a few days ago. . .but still. . ." Orihime caught her bottom lip in between her teeth, and Sephie knew that she had lost her heart for the first time. _

_Sephie frowned. She remembered her own first love. . . and she ould never forget her own first heartache. _

"_Ri – Chan, you mustn't forget. . ." Sephie paused, eyes darting to the window. _

_Orihime cocked her head to the side. "Forget what, Ookasan?" _

_Sephie frowned. "You mustn't forget that you aren't like other girls. . . and Lord Sesshoumaru isn't like other boys. You two probably won't have a relationship. . ." Sephie knew that it was harsh, and that she probably should have just stoped right there. . . but Orihime needed to understand the whole truth. "There will be no fairy tale for you, Ri – Chan. You will not marry for love. You will marry for the good of your land." _

_Orihime looked down at her nails, no longer elated. "I know." She admitted quietly. Oh, she knew. While other girls had grown up with stories of living in a beautiful palace, waiting for Prince Charming to woe and wed them, Orihime had been raised on fairy tales of a darker sort. Of her ancesters, of their marriages. She knew, even before she had been old enough to understand the full severity of marriage, that all the fairy tales that other girls had been told were not true – and that for her, the chance of a happy marriage founded in love was about as likely as a pig sprouting wings and flying away. _

_She knew there would be never be a happily ever after for her. _

_Turning quickly, Orihime grabbed at the folds of Sephie's skirts, and for the first time since she was very, very little, she wept. _

"Kagome?" Came Sesshoumaru's questioning voice.

Kagome sat up with a gasp, nearly missing her head on his own descending one. She looked at him, unsure as to why he was kneeling so near her.

He stood slowly and regally and sneered. "You were crying in your sleep. . . I felt that I ought to wake you up." He supplied, even though she hadn't asked. Despite the shocked expression so obvious on her face, he continued. "I called your name two times. . . you wouldn't wake up." He said, returning to one knee and grabbing a lock of her hair.

"I wasn't crying." Kagome said in a very even voice.

The expression on his face could no more pass for a smile than a grimace. "What could you have possibly been dreaming of that made you have tears even in your conciousness?" He asked, slipping his hand behind the base of her skull. He slowly began to massage her scalp, his claws scrapping sensously against the soft skin of her head.

Kagome shook her head, and his hand fell still. "I wasn't dreaming." She assured him, not meeting his gaze for fear he would no she was lying. "And I certainly wasn't crying."

Sesshoumaru's features softened in the slightest degree and he leaned in and stole a salt tear from her cheek. He licked his lips, then hers, and whispered against them. "Sometimes I wonder if you even know that you're lying. . ." He mumbled before stealing a deep kiss, burning away any of the memories that may have lingered in her mind.

"Sesshoumaru – sama." Kagome moaned as she titled her head back, allowing her master to take what he pleased.

Sesshoumaru knelt down, and to any outsider would have looked the world like Lancelot paying homage to his Gwenhwyfar. Sesshoumaru knew the truth. It was Kagome that was skeptical.

Sesshoumaru kissed her deeply, examined every crevice of her body, as if he had never seen it before. As if he didn't already know every curve and indentation. As if he reveled in the solace of her arms.

As if he loved her.

Kagome stiffened in his arms and to her surprise, Sesshoumaru ceased his administrations. "Kagome?" He asked quietly, looking up at her disheveled features.

"Tell me what happened next to Orihime and Maru."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Sesshoumaru's lips stilled at Kagome's collar bone. She could feel that her question startled him, even though even that tiny movement hadn't given him away. She could feel the shock make the lines of his body sharper, more like the hunter that she knew hime to be. Muscles quivered gently, so gently she almost didn't feel them, just beneath the surface under his skin, and attribute she had begun to concur meant that his thoughts were racing.

She jumped when he spoke, for she hadn't really expected for him to answer.

"Orihime. . . and Maru?" Sesshoumaru asked, his lips twistng up at her skin, leaving her with the distinct impression that he _wasn't_ smiling. "Why on earth would you want to know that _now_?" He asked, more to himself than to her. With a shake of his head, he pulled away, a wry grin – if you could call it that – playing on his lips. His fingers tapped them impatiently, and Kagome watched there movement with utter fascination.

"Orihime and Maru. . . what happened next?" Sesshoumaru asked rhetorically. And then he began.

"Father, I wish to be married." Sesshoumaru made the statement quick, concise, and with as much determination as he could muster. He knew that beating around the bush would get him nowhere, and that his father would appreciate him being firm in his choice much more than he would him being polite.

_Obviously intrigued, Inutaisho leaned back from his seat, his reading glasses falling down the bridge of his nose as he studied his son. "Do you really?" He asked voice dripping with humor. _

_But not disbelief, Sesshoumaru noted, knowing at least now that his father was taking him seriously – as seriously as one could take a lesser individual. But he didn't blame his father for that. To do so would be hypicritcial, and no one could ever accuse Sesshoumaru Taisho of the Western Lands of being a hypocrite. _

"_I do." Was his simple answer. He didn't ask to be married, as other members of the royal house would; no, he simple told his father his wish. But his eyes told his father that he was going to be married, with or with out his fathers permission. _

_Inutaisho chuckled. "Think you ready to be married? Why, you're still just a boy!"  
_

_Sesshoumaru knew that the jibe was meant to make him act childish, but he simply took it in stride – something rare for him. "Many boys are married – many younger than me." Sesshoumaru said, agitation stripped from his voice. _

_Inutaisho stared at Sesshoumaru with his trademark scrutiny, the scrutiny that had made him so successful as a lord. Under it, even the strongest of demons would faulter. _

_But Sesshoumaru didn't. He had been raised under such eyes, and new all their secrets. _

"_I will marry her, father." Sesshoumaru informed him, trying to close the discussion and leave as soon as possible. _

_But Inutaisho was having none of that. "You keep using the word 'marry.' I'l assume that, since you are using a human term, that you are planning on making a mortal your mate." _

_Sesshoumaru didn't answer. It was all the response Inutaisho needed. The demon lord stood, tall and proud, and looked his son straight in the eye, all humor gone from his face. "If you marry a human, she will die." Inutaisho informed him quite simply. "Human's aren't the same as us. . . they age faster, they feel deeper. They die long before we do." Inutaisho circled his desk and stood, face to face with his only son. "Some scholars believe that humans live better than we do. . . they live fully, while we live only a half life. We are graced with immortality. Instead, they have immortal souls." _

_Sesshoumaru understood the concept – he understood it far too well. He had had many friends in his short 75 years of life, most of which had been humans, servants in the citadel, must of them. And before he could even age enough to understand the diffrence between mortal and immortal, they had already died. _

"_We are only born once. They are born again and again and again. But that also means that they die, again and again and again." Inutaisho told him, laying his hands on eahc of his shoulders as he had the day his human nursemaid had died. "You can not marry her if she is human – it will crush you." Inutaisho squeazed, gently, to show his son that there was still a reality. "Would you be willing to go through that?" _

_Sesshoumaru shrugged his hands away. "I don't have a choice." Was his answer. He turned and walked towards the high oak doors of the citedal library. "I'll let myself out." He said, obviously chosing to ignore his father's sentiments. _

_Inutaisho shook his head. "At least. . . think about it. There is someone for you, Sesshoumaru. You just have to be patient and wait." _

_Sesshoumaru snarled. "Like you did for your mate?" He asked, not bothering to turn to face is father before he walked away. He knew the words had struck a raw nerve – it was a widely known fact that Sesshoumaru's concubine of a mother hadn't been Inutaisho's true mate. That she hadn't even been truly desirable to him. And as soon as she had birthed Sesshoumaru, she had been banished from the lands, all rights as a mother revoked and giving to a female human who would serve as his nursemaid until she died. _

_"It would seem that my son is more than a bit fascinated with your whelp of a daughter, Lord Higurashi –san." Inutaisho drawled lazily, cupping his chin in his palm with leisure. He felt no need for pretense around Lord Higurashi of he Main Lands – he had known the boy since he had been in diapers, and known every ancestor of his as far back as they had ruled the center of Japan. _

Higurashi smiled back at his old friend. "It would seem so. She's utterly enchanted by him as well."

_Inutaisho made a face of mock shock. "Did you know he plans to marry her, Higurashi –sama?" _

_Lord Higurashi didn't look too surprised. "I don't think that he's spoken to her about it as of yet, but I'm sure if they had the chance, they would run away together and elope." He said with a grim nodd. _

_Inutaisho clapped his hands together, standing up as he did so. "My thoughts exactly! So, why don't we give them what they want?" Mischief danced in his eyes. _

_Lord Higurashi's expression was one of confusion. "What do you mean?" _

"So?" Kagome asked, leaning forward just a bit in her excitement. "What did Tiao mean?" She asked, using the name Sesshoumaru had proved for her again. For a moment, when she had heard the family name Higurashi, she had been a bit confused. But as it was a common last name, she decided that it was of little importance.

Sesshoumaru didn't answer – he simply stared off in to space. "Their parents allowed them to marry, and they lived happily ever after." He answered, angst heavy in voice.

Kagome felt a cold chill rush through her. "That's it?" She asked, more than a little agitated. "You told the rest of the story in such detail, and that's the end of the story? Oddly anticlimatic." She said with a wry grin, the first he had seen on her face in days. "C'mon, Lord Sesshoumaru, what happened next?" She was very nearly begging. She had never been one to be enthralled by stories, especially ones spoken aloud, but she couldn't help but be fascinated by this story.

Sesshoumaru bared his teeth at her. "Go to sleep!" he snapped, a low growl deep in his throat warning her to back off.

Kagome hadn't been able to keep the shock from her face. Here was cold and stoic Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, man with the absolute best poker face she had ever seen. Yet at the questioning to the ending of a story, all of that was gone.

It was obvious, even to her, that something about the story struck a raw nerve with him – it had been rather obvious when he was telling it, too. He spoke in a voice that was – dare she say it? – Wistful. And his eyes often glazed over while he was looking at her, obviously seeing something she didn't. But still. . . .

"Sesshoumaru. . ." Kagome asked, gently touching the sleeve of his haori. "Please. . . what happened?"

Sesshoumaru merely smacked her hand away. "I'll take you back to your traveling companions in the morning. It was a mistake to bring you with me." Sesshoumaru said, dispisment in his voice.

Though Kagome had hoped for it, prayed for it, wished for it on every star she could spy, it still felt. . . wrong.

The hours of love making they had had – no, rutting seemed more opt – meant little to her. He had taken her not by force, but by the firestorm of passion that swirled between them. Her mind said no – but her body was always ready to accomedate him. No, it wasn't the sex that made her feel so uncomfortable about his statement – it had been something much, much deeper and much more intimate.

His story telling.

It was deeply personal, an in depth look in to the windows of his very _soul_, which she had once doubted even existed. The looks – the feelings – everything that he had shown her that she knew he hadn't shown anyone else.

That's what made it wrong for her to leave.

"Why did you come for me in the first place?" Kagome asked, anger and hurt in her voice. "Why did you come for me if you were just going to leave me behind?"

Sesshoumaru glowered at her for a moment, before his eyes softened. His lips parted, and for a moment Kagome could have sworn that he was going to say something.

But with a shake of his head, he leapt skywards in to the night, leaving Kagome alone once again.

But Anonymous Fangirl! That can't be it! Why in the world would you end this chapter like that?

Anonymous Fangirl: Because I'm tired, and I have testing in the morning, and I still have to read 65 pages of THE CHOSEN tonight so that I can keep up with my daily qouta if I want to have it done by Friday. Also, I can't do my quota for tomorrow, since I will be filling candy bags for French Club to sell next week after school. Plus, I have to make sure that my new fish (I went out a few hours ago and replaced the dead ones with live, and then bought three more for the hell of it) need to be taken care of. My dog is asleep, and I have bags under my eyes. Why, this morning I fell asleep in class while reading aloud! I was so embarrassed when my neighbor tapped me and asked me if I was okay! My life is so full right now, I barely have time to breath! I might as well not go to sleep tonight!

Alas, I am exhausted, and I need to retire. Now, when you read this, it will be at the very least at 7:45, as I don't have access to the internet until then. So, when you do read it, wish me luck on the math portion of the exam, which I am taking from 7:45 to 9:45. And if you read this after that, well, I still have other tests. So wish me luck! (I need it at this point. . . I HATE exams. . .)


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

_When it came to relationships, she was a dud_ mused Kagome Higurashi with a bit of self loathing. It had been four days, six hours, and – she cast a glance at her watch – fifteen minutes (not that she was _counting_ or anything) since Sesshoumaru, the stoic demon Lord of the Western lands had left her on the outskirts of Inuyasha's forest with out so much as a good bye or a fare the well. Kagome scoffed in a very Inuyasha like manner. And he had taken her virginity!

She supposed that she should have been happy – after all, she was right back where she had wanted to be – out of the demon lord's grasp. And that was what she wanted. It was.

But that didn't explain the nauseous feeling she got in her stomach whenever she told herself that she was glad to be back.

Her companions hadn't asked where she had been – she assumed that Sango and Miroku thought that she had gone back to her time for a test or something, though Shippo and Inuyasha's noses where certainly strong enough to smell that they could smell the truth all over her.

But for some reason, they hadn't said a thing.

While she wasn't positive Shippo knew where she had truly been, from the mournful and scouring looks Inuyasha kept sending her way, she was pretty sure he knew the truth.

After all, why else would he be looking at her like that?

"I think we should stop for the night." Inuyasha said, casting a glance towards the darkening sky.

Kagome blinked hard. _There was no way Inuyasha had just said that they should stop for the night!_ Kagome wanted to scream in disbelief. Unless. . .

"Is it that time of the month already, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, searching the sky to see if the moon would make an appearance tonight.

Inuyasha growled. "Yeah. . . I haven't been able to smell anything for days."

Kagome cocked her head to one side in confusion. If Inuyasha hadn't smelt anything in days, then he couldn't have possibly known that she was with Sesshoumaru. So then why wouldn't he have asked where she was? Had he thought that she had gone home? No. . . he would have gone to pick her up, especially if she hadn't told him where she was going. And even if he hadn't gone to demand why she had gone back to her own time without his permission, then what was with all the looks? She was about to ask him that very question when he turned to the group and began to speak.

"Are you guys gonna be okay for the night? I think I'm just going to take off." Inuyasha said, looking to either side of him uneasily.

_Like he was hiding something_.

"Sure thing, Inuyasha. We'll be fine. And now that Kagome is gracing us once again with her wonderful cooking, I'm sure we wont have to forge for roots like we did when she was back at her home." With that, Miroku cast her a grateful look. Obviously, her presence and her foods from the future had made everything that they had eaten before she came in to their lives unpalatable. Kagome smiled, happy for the first time in days. It was nice to feel needed.

At least some people needed her.

She quickly shook the thought from her head, refusing to spend one more iota of her energy dwelling on that _dog_. After all, how _dare_ he just take her back to her friends, as if she hadn't meant anything to him, as if he had only used her as long as he needed a plaything!

Kagome sobered. She supposed that was probably it. Sesshoumaru hadn't _really_ wanted her. . . he had wanted sex and a way to upset his brother. Huh. . . he had managed to kill both birds with the same stone. He wouldn't have kept her. . . and she wouldn't have let him.

_But couldn't they have at least had more time together this time?_

Kagome shook her head. This time? This had been the only time, and would always only be the only time. She would never be foolish enough to let him take her again, no matter how much she loved him.

She loved him.

Kagome paled, and the nauseous feeling returned. _Oh god, she had fallen in love with him!_

"Kagome?" Sango's concerned voice seemed very, very distant. "Kagome, are you alright?"

Kagome tried to answer that she was fine. . . she could feel the words gather on the tip of her tongue. But she couldn't get her mouth to move. In fact, she couldn't get _anything_ to move.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku screamed in to the darkening forest. "Inuyasha! Come back! Kagome's been injured!"

But no reply came.

Kirere transformed quickly and Miroku gathered the trembling Kagome in to his arms, placing her atop the soft fur of the yellow fire cat. Kagome wanted to tell them that they were being foolish – ro she was beign foolish, one or the other. But she couldn't even seem to find the strength to lift her hand to show them she was fine.

Sango grabbed some rope from Kagome's backpack to tie her down, and looked back out in to the forest. "Do you think we should wait for Inuyasha?" She asked, unwilling to wait if it meant Kagome's health may falter.

Miroku shook his head. "Inuyasha probably can't hear us. . . maybe he's already human. Either way, we have to take Kagome to the village. Kaede can probably help her."

Kagome was only vaguely aware of the conversation, and if there had been any conversation on the trip to Keade's, she hadn't heard it. All that seemed to matter was staying awake. Trying to stay conscious, she focused all of her attentions on a single silver orb that hung nearly invisible behind the thick clouds in the sky. She knew there was something wrong. . . the moon shouldn't be visible that night. What was it? Why wasn't the moon supposed to be there? She knew it was an important reason!

But it had taken too much of an effort to try to remember why, so she simply let her mind drift as the scenery passed swiftly beneath them.

A single figure donned in a simple Kimono in the color of ivory stood alone, high on a mountain top, brooding about the meaning of. . . well, everything.

He didn't speak. . . not that there was anyone there to listen. No sound passed his lips, but as he surveyed the beautiful landscape beneath him, a musical tune seemed to be the night's lilt.

He stood high, and he stood proud. And he stood alone. But as he stood alone, he was not lonely. After all, how can one be lonely when they had their memories to keep them company?

_Orihime had finally stopped crying. Her eyes remained red and puffy, but she didn't bother to hide them. Even the pain was simply a sign of her love. _

_But she knew the tears would fall again that evening, and the evening after that, and the evening after that. Perhaps not every evening for the rest of her life. She had heard somewhere that you don't stay in love forever. . . that eventually, you learn to love again. _

_But it would certainly be a long time before that happened. _

_She walked with pride and dignity in to the informal dining hall for dinner with her father. It wasn't often that they ate together, but whenever he requested it, it was her job as a dutiful daughter and princess to oblige him. _

_But that didn't mean that she had to enjoy it. . . _

_She sulked in to the massive room – something odd for her. Her normal dignified demeanor was hunched over in a very un – Princess like fashion, her eyes flashing with annoyance and pain. _

_And her father was utterly oblivious. _

"_Ri – chan! Thank you for coming to dinner tonight!" He grabbed her up in a big bear hug and thanked her, as if she had had a choice in the matter. _

"_It is my pleasure, father." She hissed out in between clenched teeth, and cursed her luck for being born a princess. _

_Her father gave her a kiss on her forehead, and then on each of her eye lids. "Your skin is warm. . . perhaps I should call a miko to see if you are healthy?" He asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes. _

_Orihime's annoyance simmered on a low heat, and his teasing had only made her angrier. He teased as if he didn't realize that she had been crying. He teased as if it didn't matter anyways. _

_Orihime sat down stiffly at the table and only gave her father a quick, cold glance. "Is dinner ready yet?" She asked with a chill in her voice. _

_But if her father had noticed the ice that layered her utteration, his cheery demeanor showed that he had chosen to ignore it. "Why, Ri – Chan! You are going to make me think that you don't want to get this dinner with me over with as soon as possible!" Her father feigned mortification. "Why, don't you want to spend some time with your father?" _

_Orihime tipped her head graciously and smiled lightly. "Why father, what in the world would make you think that I wouldn't want to spend time with you?" She wouldn't deny the truth. . . it wasn't in her to tell a lie. _

_Her father was unaffected. "Well, I thought that I should inform you that I've made some rather important decisions about your future." He said in a proud fathering voice. _

_Orihime paled slightly. "What sort of. . . decisions?" But she didn't need to ask. She already knew. _

"_I think that it's high time for you to get married, and I know just the boy for you! He's the son of a rather powerful land, and their alliance with us could prove to be most benefactual." A wry grin played on her father's face, and it was obvious to Orihime that he was rather pleased with himself. _

_Suffice to say, Orihime was not. She fumed and shook with anger as she stared at her father through narrowed eyes. How dare he! How dare he try to marry her off to someone she didn't love!  
_

_But he could dare. It was an obligation for him to dare. Remembering what Sephie had told her merely two nights prior, she stiffened her back and bit back the tears that had threatened to fall once more. It was her duty as a princess to see to her people's needs. . . and her father could always use more allies. _

"_Married?" She voiced simply, coldly. _

_The proud Lord nodded with glee. "Yes. He's a rather handsome young man, and I'm sure with time you could grow to be very fond of him."_

_With time, Orihime thought cryptically, anything was possible. _

_Orihime stood, the heels of her hands still against the table and kept her gaze away from her fathers. She would go down. . . but she would go down with dignity. _

"_Ri – Chan?"_

"_I'm not hungry." Orihime answered as she turned back towards the towering doors that would lead her in to the main part of the citadel. _

_At her back, her father called out to her. "Don't you want to know who you'll be marrying?" _

_She would have rather died. _

_Her fingers had wrapped around the handles made of brass that would allow her entrance to the rest of the castle when she heard her father from behind her. "His name is Sesshoumaru Taisho of the Western Lands." _

_Orihime froze. . . and then, like the good little princess she was, promptly fainted. _

Even though it had been centuries before, Sesshoumaru still felt the same humor he had felt the moment her father had told him what had transgressed. Their parents had thought that they were such deviants. . . playing their children on like that.

He even allowed himself a smile as he remembered when she had awoken to see him staring down at her. She had thrown herself from the bed and in to his arms, and like the weepy little female that she was, she had begun to cry anew – these tears, however, were born out of love and joy.

He had always loved seeing her overjoyed.

He turned his head towards the sky and thought of a different woman. Kagome wasn't weepy at all. In fact, he believed that she would rather bite off her own tongue than to let him see her tears. . . and that she probably had hidden them from him.

Her expressions were many with little time in between them. She could be happy and angry all in the same moment. Orihime had never, ever been that way. Orihime would simmer over the little things for days. . . and up until the day she died, he could only remember seeing a handful of expressions. _But then,_ he thought with an angry frown, _she hadn't really been alive that long at all._

Sesshoumaru's frown grew deeper as he turned his thoughts back to Kagome. _How much time would he have with her? Would the gods see it fit to give him a year or two?_

No time, Sesshoumaru quickly reminded himself. He would have no time with her. He wouldn't allow it. He couldn't fall in love again. . . especially not with a mortal. He had learned his lesson once. . . and his father had learned it too.

He would not go to her, no matter how much he wished to.

He howled, a guttural sound that held all his angst and hidden pains. A few animals howled back their anonymous sympathy. . . a sympathy for all those how had loved and lost their mates.

And though he told himself that he wouldn't go back to her . . . and told himself that he couldn't go back to her. . .

. . . it didn't stop his feet from beginning their slow descention down the mountain side, back towards where he had come.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"She seems fine." Kaede assured the demon slayer, the monk, and the tiny kitsune who kept stealing worried glances over to where Kagome was sagged against a wall.

Kagome gave Kaede a quick grin. "That's what I keep telling them. But do they believe me? Not for a second!" She said with a smile.

Sango frowned. "You went pale as a sheet all of a sudden, Kagome. And you almost fainted. You _never_ faint. Of course we're worried about you. It's our job."

Kagome smiled. "Well, stop worrying about me."

Miroku's calm voice was the one that responded. "We don't have a choice."

Kagome smiled as Shippo wrapped his tiny clawed hands around own and yawned. "I'm tired, Kagome." He admitted sheepishly. "Will you be alright if I go to sleep? I'm worried that when I wake up, you might be gone again. You left so fast the last time to go back to your home. . . you didn't tell anyone but Inuyasha that you were leaving."

Kagome was confused. "Inuyasha told you all that I went home?" She asked.

Miroku looked at her oddly. "Yes. . . he told us the next morning that you had left for your own time period. He left periodically to go check on you."

Kagome frowned. He hadn't checked on her. . . because she hadn't been there. Why was Inuyasha lying? And what was he hiding from everyone?

Shippo's hand squeezed Kagome's gently as he waited for his answer. Kagome smiled. "Why don't I tell you a bed time story to help you sleep?"

Shippo nodded sleepily. "Alright. . . But only as long as you're here when I wake up."

Kagome smiled and promised, and began a tale that she herself had just learned recently. . . the tale about a young princess, and a young demon lord, and the love between them that had seemed inevitable.

Not long in to the story, she had looked up and seen the others watching her, listening to her attentively. It wasn't long before Shippo had fallen asleep, but Kagome continued, adding tiny details here and there that she was sure had spawned from an overactive imagination.

She stopped, however, where Sesshoumaru had stopped telling her the story.

Miroku smiled. "Is that a story that you heard in your time?"

Because she couldn't say that it had been told to her by a certain lordly demon, she nodded.

Kaede nodded. "Then some stories truly do transcend the ages. We have a similar story here. The story of Sesshoumaru Taisho and Orihime Higurashi."

Kagome felt her stomach drop out from beneath her. _Sesshoumaru?_

Kaede tossed Kagome a glance over her shoulder. "Do you know the rest of the story?"

Kagome nodded her head, still musing over the importance of the name. _Did that mean that Sesshoumaru had been the boy in the story? He spoke of it so familiarly. . ._

And Kaede began. "That days that followed were happy ones, and the land rejoiced as the two teenagers arranged their marriage, a marriage that would join together two of the most influential lands in all of Japan in the most sacred way possible. It was normal for the people to be pleased when they gained a new alliance, as it allotted further trade and a greater amount of safety. But this marriage, one born of love, seemed to touch everyone as the news spread that their princess was living in a fairytale."

_Orihime's laugh was quick as Sesshoumaru swung her in a wide circle by the lake where they were having a picnic. The days had been soft and slow, and the two had savored ever second of it together, only parting ways when it was time for her to sleep. But, being a demon of immense powers, he needed a smaller amount of sleep than she did and often spent late evenings outside her bedroom door imagining new things they would do the next day. _

_Blissful day blended in to blissful day. . . and at last it was time for the wedding. _

_Orihime smiled as she spun around in a quick circle, followed by the western dress her father had had imported from England, and the seamstresses sighed as they struggled to make the final adjustments on the dress. _

_Sephie was the one who finally got her to stop making her dress twirl around her. Orihime giggled in to a single gloved hand. "I can't help it! I'm so happy!" She cried as she threw her arms around the nursemaid. "I'm getting married tomorrow to a man that I love! It's perfect!" _

_Sephie wrenched Orihime's arms off of her shoulder an held them in place as the seamstresses did their work quickly – before Orihime had the chance to start spinning again. "It will be perfect. . . if you don't ruin your dress with all that spinning." Sephie teased with a wry grin. _

_Orihime smiled, calmer than she had been moments before. "It's just. . . I never thought I would get the fairy tale." _

_Sephie's grip relaxed on her arms. "What do you mean? You live in a palace. . . you get all the pretty things you want. . . and you don't have to work a day in your life!" Sephie poked her in the stomach. "If that's not a fairy tale, I don't know what is." _

_Orihime' eyes glazed over with happiness. "True love." Was her simple reply. _

_Sephie sighed. "Am I suppose to tell you that I'm envious of you? Because I am. You really do have it all." This time, it was the older woman who hugged the girl. "And it couldn't have happened to a better person, Ri – Chan." _

_Orihime smiled and shed hot tears. "Thank you." She whispered, to any unnamed deity that may have been listening. _

"But her happiness was not long lived." Kaede whispered mournfully.

Kagome frowned. "Let me guess. . . Sesshoumaru's love for her faded away and he became an abusive husband who abandoned her with his brother and left her alone for the rest of her life?" She asked angrily.

Kaede smiled sadly. " 'Mayhap have been a better fate than what happened to her. . ."

Kagome didn't waver on her view point. "What could have possible been worse than that?" She asked jokingly. "She got _her_ fairytale, didn't she?" Kagome couldn't help but feel anger towards the girl that had stolen the heart of the man who she now loved. A man who obviously still thought about her often.

Kaede shook her head. "There are many fates worse than a sad life." She assured her listeners with an omniscient frown. "Many, many things."

Something in her tone of voice struck a cord with Kagome, and suddenly, she was very fearful for the

the innocent girl. "Like what, Kaede? What happened to her?" Kagome nearly demanded.

"And why are you so interested, Kagome?" Came a cold, familiar voice from the doorway of the tiny wooden hut.

_Anonymous Fangirl: I should leave it there, just to piss off all the readers who aren't reviewing. And as for the readers who are, well, are you in for a little surprise. _


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Inuyasha stood, still a hanyou, in the doorway. Everyone turned simultaneously to him, and all but Kaede were obviously shocked that he was there. (ha-ha. . . I bet you all thought it was Sesshoumaru, didn't you?)

"Inuyasha. . . I thought tonight was the night of the new moon?" Miroku posed the question of why he wasn't human in the form of a statement.

But Inuyasha's eyes remained fixed on Kagome. "Why's Sesshoumaru's story so important to you? It never mattered to Kikyo, and she was the one who taught it to Kaede."

Kagome's nerves were instantly struck. "I'm not Kikyo! Not that it has anything to do with anything! Who cares if it mattered to Kikyo? And who says it matters to me?" Kagome nearly screamed. She _hated_ it when people compared her to Kikyo! They only vaguely resembled each other, and their personalities couldn't have differed more.

Still. . . _why had Inuyasha brought up Kikyo at a time like this? He hadn't done it in a while, and she hadn't been acting like Kikyo at all. . . even he said it_.

Inuyasha sneered. "You care. . . just like you care about Sesshoumaru."

Kagome blushed, and must have hesitated – the looks on Sango's and Miroku's face told her that she hadn't defended herself fast enough. "I don't care about Sesshoumaru!" Kagome screamed and closed her eyes. "I don't! I don't!"

Inuyasha sneered. "Yeah, right. Then why did you spend so much time with him last week, huh, Kagome?" Inuyasha took an accusing step forward, and Kagome scrambled back, lurching Shippo from his sleep.

" ' Waz goin on?" Shippo asked with have closed eyes.

Sango and Miroku were shocked. "You spent time with Sesshoumaru!" Came Sango's voice.

If Miroku had an opinion he kept it to himself for a change.

Kagome didn't deny it. . . and that was all that they needed to know the truth.

"But Kagome. . ." Sango whispered softly. " _Why?_"

Kagome shook her head, trying in vain to will the tears away. "He said he was going to hurt you all! He needed me! He wanted me!" Kagome buried her head in her fists, hoping it would make her friends stop looking at her with such accusing eyes. "I wanted for _so_ long to be needed!" She admitted tearfully.

"But we need you." Shippo informed her innocently. "If it weren't for you, we could never find the jewel shards."

Inuyasha sneered. "If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have to." Inuyasha took another step forward, and Kagome's quiet tears became sobs. "Think about all the deaths that were caused because she broke the jewel in the first place."

Kagome flinched, and Miroku finally spoke. "Stop it, Inuyasha! You are being callous and you're _hurting her feelings!_"

Inuyasha growled and turned to Miroku. "What about you, monk? Are you still going to feel the need to defend her _feelings_ when that hole in your hand takes you to hell, all because she broke the jewel that's making the guy who gave it to you immortal?" Inuyasha stomped one foot, and the wood crunched and gave way to the appendage. "Will you still want to make her feel good then too?"

"Inuyasha. . ." Sango whispered quietly, trying to divert his attention from the shocked monk.

Inuyasha didn't spare her, either. "And you! Your family would still be alive if she hadn't come here! No, not your family," Inuyasha corrected with a sadistic smile. "Your whole _village_."

Shippo whimpered, and Inuyasha turned to him at last. "And you. . . do you think you would still be an orphan if those two demons that killed your parents hadn't gotten their grubby hands on those stinkin' jewel shards? No. . . right now, if Kagome wasn't here, you could be living with your parents, maybe learning to hunt properly. Instead, you're just mooching off of a time traveler!"

Inuyasha stared at them all, slowly. "Kagome doesn't deserve to be here. . . she doesn't even deserve to be alive." Inuyasha reached for his sword and paused, remembering that the blade forged from his father's fang couldn't cut down humans. Instead, he sliced his wrists and bloodied his nails. "If it weren't for you, none of this would have happened." Inuyasha flexed his claws and growled, eyes flashing red. "If it weren't for you, Kikyo would be alive."

Kagome's tears slowed. "So that's where you've been when you were 'checking on me.' You were with Kikyo."

Inuyasha hissed. "Don't use that condescending tone of voice! At least I was with someone I loved! You, on the other hand, are just another filthy palace concubine!" He took one more step forward, then another, and another. Kagome tried to crab – crawl away from him, but her back soon hit a wall. She stared up at him with eyes wide with terror. "Not anymore." Inuyasha said quietly, so quietly she almost missed it. He knelt down to her then, and smiled. "You know, I used to think myself in love with you."

Kagome had prayed for so long, _so long_ to hear him say those words. She had expected her stomach to drop out from beneath her, or to get twisted in to butterfly knots. But no, instead, his words just filled her with a blind terror.

"But then I realized something. I wasn't in love with you. . . I was in love with Kikyo." Inuyasha dragged one claw across her cheek, then dragged it across her other one. "He's not in love with you. . . he's still in love with Orihime." Inuyasha bent down and gave Kagome a soft kiss on her lips, barely brushing his lips against hers. He pulled away, slowly, but remained close enough that she could feel his lips on hers when he spoke again. "How long before he wishes that _he_ had been the one to kill you?"

A whoosh of air above her snapped her out of her fear as Inuyasha fell limply unconscious in to her lap. Miroku stood over her, holding Sango's boomerang bone and rubbing the shoulder he had obviously thrown the giant weapon with, a grimace on his face. "How in the world do you do that all the time, Sango?" He asked with a casual grin, as if Inuyasha hadn't just tried to kill her.

Kagome stared down in horror at Inuyasha's limp body. _Why?_ She thought, tears forming again in her eyes. _Why in the world would he try to kill her? She cared for him! She did her best to make him happy! She had given herself to his brother to ensure his life! Why in the world would he have tried to kill her? _

"My guess is that Kikyo wants her soul back. . . all of it." Sango told her, and whistled to Kirere.

Kagome touched her fingers to her lips. "Had I said that out loud?" She asked.

Miroku nodded. "We need to get Kagome some place safe. If Kikyo has Inuyasha willing to kill for her, my guess is that you wont be safe from Inuyasha." Miroku's face twisted up, and his brows drew together as they often did when he was thinking. "You can't go back to your own time. . . it isn't safe for you there. He could always come to you, and you wouldn't have anyone there who is strong enough to protect you from him."

Sango frowned. "Is there anyone strong enough to protect her from him?" She wondered rhetorically.

The three friends looked at each other with eyes full of worry. They all knew the answer. There was only one person who could protect _anyone_ from death.

Kagome exhaled slowly, his name on her breath. " _Sesshoumaru._"

_Anonymous Fangirl: Don't you just hate me? I know this chapter is a bit confusing, but bear with me. If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them for you. Just put them in your review! (Was that subtle enough?)_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Kagome rode on Kirere's back over the grassy knolls of Japan alone. The sun was rising, and Kagome mused for a moment that Inuyasha might be normal again when dawn broke. But she knew the truth. Inuyasha was out for blood. . . her blood.

Miroku, Sango, and Shippo had stayed behind in the village with Kaede. They had hog tied Inuyasha in his concussion induced sleep, and locked him in an abondoned hut. They had then covered the hut with specfic wards, each guranteed to allow no one with a demonic heritage entrance. Or exit.

And Kagome had left, with only her bag and her best friend's fire cat, off in search of the man who had snubbed her less than a week earlier.

As she rode, she pondered Inuyasha's statements to pass the time. Kikyo hadn't cared about the story. . . why should she have? Kagome's anger was quickly rekindled. And for that matter, just because Kagome was Kikyo's reincarnation didn't mean that they had to share the same view points on things! In fact, in her opinion, it made it even less likely that they would agree on anything at all.

"Kagome!" Came a call from high above her. "Kagome!"

Kagome squinted her eyes and saw a rapidly approaching – shooting star? No . . . no star could call out her name. . .

A loud moo echoed across the quiet morning right before Kirere was plowed in to by a three eyed cow and a sword forger, Totosai.

Kirere twisted in midair and somehow managed to keep Kagome from falling off of her back – a feat, to be sure. A loud crash was heard, and a dust cloud formed where Totosai had so gracefully landed. "Totosai!" Kagome cried out, and urged Kirere towards the spot. Kirere growled slightly, obviously still irked from the sudden tackle she had received from the rowdy heafer, but she took Kagome down none the less.

Totosai was just getting up when Kagome jumped the final few feet to the ground. "Totosai!" Kagome rusehd to his side, helping him to stand up. "Are you hurt? That was a rather nasty fall you took." She voiced her concern.

Totosai laughed. "That was nothing! You should have seen when she landed in a lake a few days ago!" Totosai looked thoughtful. "Thought I had seen Myoga. . . But it was just a water skipper!" He laughed.

Kagome felt a sweatdrop go down her back. "You're getting senile, Totosai." She informed him as she lead him over to Kirere, and then began to dig for a water bottle out of her backpack.

Totosai scoffed. "Senile? I'm still the best swordsman there ever was!"

"Sword _maker_" Kagome informed him, hand him the water bottle she had managed to surface. "And if not senile, then. . . decrepit?"

"I'm as healthy as an ox!" Totosai exclaimed.

His cow fell over, as if to show how ill it was.

Kagome smiled and inspected him for wounds. "But you're not as strong as you used to be. . . I worry about you sometimes. Always flying around on that cow – playing meteor whenever you think you spot something. You were bound to grow weak sometime, Totosai. Maybe you should just take it easy." Kagome finished her inspection with a frown. It was passable, but she still wished he would stop thinking he was invincible.

They were ilent for a little while. . . but the silence was easy between them. It had lasted a while. . . long enough for Totosai to start a fire and for Kagome to begin cooking on it. But, after a while, Totosai's curiosty got the better of him.

"Why aren't you with Inuyasha?" He asked. "A demon could come out of nowhere, and you don't even have your archery set on you. Does Inuyasha know your this far out here alone?"

Kagome thought about that one for a second. What should she tell him? That the son of his best friend had tried to kill her? That he was evil? That she was currently on a quest to find the brother that Totosai had always thought was the truly evil one? That she, sweet and naïve Kagome had lost her virginity and her heart to said demon?

"Inuyasha doesn't know where I am." Kagome answered with a steady voice. "I'm on a quest to find something on my own, and I know Inuyasha wont be happy about it, I need to do it anyways." A fabrication of the truth, a tiny white lie to protect the old man's heart.

Totosai sighed. "Poor Kagome. What if you get eaten up by a demon? Then where will Inuyasha be?"

_With a girlfriend that has a whole soul and one helluva lot happier?_ "I'm sure I'll be fine." Kagome assured him, and began to serve the Ramen. "I mean, I have Kirere with me, so I can't get in too much trouble now, can I?" She asked jokingly.

Totosai remained adment. "Kagome, this is a dangerous time to be out and about. Especially here in this no man's land."

Kagome smiled. "I'll be fine, Totosai. I'm safe." _Much safer than I would have been if I would have stayed with Inuyasha_. But she kept that thought to herself.

_Inuyasha_. . . "Totosai." Kagome began, hoping the swordsman could give her some answers. "Inuyasha said something to me. I have been hearing this story. . . a fairytale, I guess – about a Princess named Orihime and Lord Sesshoumaru. When I asked to hear the end of it, Inuyash agot angry with me and told me that Kikyo wouldn't care about it. Why would he say something like that?"

Totosai shook his head. "My dear Kagome, the tragedy of Princess Orihime was no Fairy Tale, I'm afraid. . . I met her once."

Kagome's brows drew together. "Tragedy? But. . . she was so happy." She thought about it for a moment. "Wait. . . Kaede said something like that too. A sad fate." Kagome looked at Totosai. "You said that you met her. When?"

Totosai shrugged. "It was a few hundred years ago. . . Lord Sesshoumaru was still very nearly a pup, and Princess Orihime couldn't have been any older than you." Totosai paused here. " So many people thought she was so much younger than she actually was. . . such a dear, sweet and innocent girl. I went to her funeral too. . . But I don't think that should count as _seeing_ her." Totosai shook his head. "Such a sad, sad day."

Kagome grabbed Totosai's shoulders, frantic for being so close to the truth. "Why! What happened to her? Why does Inuyasha think that it makes a differnce whether or not I care?" Kagome shook him twice, lightly, in her dumbfounded state. "What is so damned important about Orihime!"

"I wonder if you're truly ready to know." Said a nearly transparent Sesshoumaru as he stepped seemingly out of the thin morning mists.

_Anonymous Fangirl: I don't think it needs to be said, but. . . Review. _


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"Sesshoumaru!" Totosai screamed in a high pitched tone that indicated his horror. He remembered the last time they had meet and Totosai had refused to make him Tokijiin, Sesshoumaru had sworn he would kill the old swordsmaker. He fled behind Kagome, for whatever safety she provided. "Protect me, Kagome. You were right. I am decrepit."

"You're a coward is what you are." She hissed at the old man under her breath her eyes steady on the demon lord who stood before her. Whoever had said that you never turn your back on your enemy was a wise man, and Kagome intended to follow his instructions. She barely even blinked. All at once, her need to see him again, her need for answer, and her love for him, melted away – there was no room left for any emotion but hatred for his abandonment of her before she had even realized that he had stolen her heart. "What are _you_ doing here, Lord Sesshoumaru?" Kagome demanded coldly, in a tone that seemed to have fit Sesshoumaru so much better than it fit her.

Sesshoumaru smirked, but the expression must have been foreign to his face, because it disappeared quickly and once again he looked as cold and unfeeling as Kagome thought him to be. "No, Kagome. What are _you_ doing here? I left you in the care of my brother." Sesshoumaru took a step forward, then another. "Did you think to try to find me, little miko?" He asked, his voice softening with every word.

Kagome would have bitten off her tongue before she would have answered that, and he knew it. Sesshoumaru closed the remaining distance between them and grasped her chin in two clawed fingers. "You came to me." He stated simply, as if he knew it to be a fact. _As if she couldn't resist._

Kagome tried to reel back, but his fingers held her in place. "I didn't come to you before, and I didn't come to you now. _You_ came to _me_." She pointed out. "Both times!"

Sesshoumaru ran a finger over her face, and if Kagome didn't know any better, she would have thought that he had missed her. If Kagome didn't know any better, she would have thought that he cared. If Kagome didn't know any better, she would have thought that he loved her.

Kagome slapped his hand away. If he kept touching her like that, her anger was bound to melt away and leave her the simpering female she always was whenever he got his hands on her. "I'll never come to you, Sesshoumaru. I don't care for you. I don't." She said it once to assure him. She said it the second time to assure herself.

Sesshoumaru gathered both of her hands in his one, his grip threatening to break her in two. She bowed her back and glared up at him, angry with him that he could still bend her to his will, and angry with herself for hoping he would. But staring down in to her eyes, his brows creased in frustration. "You're a liar." He told her in a voice that said his word was law. Kagome's eyes widened, and she was about to tell him just where he could stick his assumptions, but he continued. "You are a liar; you _do_ care. You care too much. You're afraid of me, of everything. And you're weak." To prove this, he squeezed his hand, and Kagome felt her wrist crack. She winced, and bit back a groan of discomfort. "You're too weak. . . you're too small. . . and you're far too human." His scowl only deepened, and Kagome expected him to continue belittle her. ". . . and you can't seem to understand how very much you mean to me."

Kagome's body went limp in his grasp. There was no way, _no way_ Sesshoumaru Taisho, stoic demonic Lord of the greater part of Japan had just said that. Sesshoumaru wasn't romantic. . . and Sesshoumaru wasn't the kind to talk about unneccessary emotions. But there it was. . . _You can't seem to understand how very much you mean to me._

Whoosh! That certainly did something funny to Kagome's stomach. All the emotions she had been expecting to feel when Inuyasha had told her that he had once loved her. . . all of them swept over her in that instant.

She must have looked like she was going to faint, for Sesshoumaru released her hands slowly and whispered her name, as if to draw her out of her shock.

As soon as the grip on her wrists were gone, Kagome flung herself at Sesshoumaru, nearly implaing herself on his armor when she wrapped her arms around him in a full kiss.

She could faintly hear Totosai's sounds of shock from somewhere far behind her, but she paid it no heed. She had been waiting so long – or maybe that was him? – to feel something like this. And now, she did.

"I love you." She whispered when he pulled away for a breath. "I love you." She said again when she kissed his cheek. "I love you I love you I love you I love you!"

Sesshoumaru wrapped his own arm around her and bit her neck gently. "I've waited so many years to hear you say that again." He whispered quietly, before he realized he was even going to say the words. Immediately, he prayed se hadn't heard them.

But she heard him, and she froze. "What do you mean?"

Sesshoumaru didn't speak. . . but Kagome was used to that. "I said, what do you mean?"

"Maybe I should go. . . I'm sure you know Sesshoumaru well, Kagome." Totosai said as he climbed on to his cow. "And I'm sure he can protect you better than I from any demons you might happen across so. . . tata!"

Neither of the two noticed him leave.

"What do you mean?" Kagome demanded once more.

Sesshoumaru didn't speak for a long moment. . . but something in his eyes had told Kagome that he was planning his next words carefully. "Would you like to hear a story, Kagome?"

Kagome reeled back in distaste. "Why is it always stories with you people! Why? And why am I the only one who seems to get in trouble because of these stories!"

"Once upon a time there was a Lady who was so beautiful that – "

"I don't give a damn!" Kagome cursed in a very unchareteristic fashion.

"A demon lord wanted nothing more than to make her his bride. They were very happy together, but on the night before their wedding –"

"Stop it!" Kagome screamed, beating her hands against his chest. "I don't care! I don't want to hear it! It's just a fairytale!"

" – She was murdered."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Kagome felt her tongue stick suddenly to the roof of her mouth.

Sesshoumaru didn't react to her suddenly pale demeanor the way that her friends had. He didn't start asking questions or trying to see if she was sick. No; it wasn't in his nature.

He stood there, holding her, and for the first time since Sesshoumaru had intially kidnapped Kagome, she felt nothing – no fear, no anger, no love.

"She. . . was murdered?" Kagome questioned when she found enough salvia to form words.

Sesshoumaru didn't answer – he knew a rhetorical question when he heard one.

Murdered. _Murdered_. The happy little love struck princess. . . murdered.

The anger was back now, strong as it had ever been. "Who?" She demanded in a low voice that demanded retribution. "Who?"

Sesshoumaru merely shrugged. "Just a lowly assassin. . . hired by the northern lands to kill the princess, so that this Sesshoumaru could free to form an allaince with _their_ state, rather than the main lands."

Kagome nodded. . . she could understand the polotics of it all. A princess – a human no less – being married off to someone as influential and powerful as the son of the demon Lord of the Western lands, heir to the Western lands himself? And for not money, nor strength in alligance. No . . . they had been married off for an entirely different reason.

For love.

Or _would_ have been married off, as the case would be.

"What does this all have to do with me?" Kagome asked her orginal question once more. "I mean. . . other than a rather common last name, Orihime and I share nothing in common." She pointed out. "Why on earth does this story always seem to tie in to me? I mean, Inuyasha tries to kill me for asking about it –"

"Inuyasha did _what!_" Sesshoumaru demanded, eyes flashing red.

Kagome froze in his arms, suddenly fearful. "It was nothing. . . really. Probably just a misunderstanding. I mean, it's not as if he really _could_ have killed me. . . if worse came to worse, I could have always sat him, and –"

"That's why you were coming to me, wasn't it?" Sesshoumaru asked. Kagome looked hard at his face, and saw nothing. But perhaps, if she could have looked a little bit harder, she would have seen his pain. The pain in the fact that she hadn't come to him because there had been a choice – as there had with him – but because there _hadn't._

It seemed that was always the way with them.

"Why is the story so important, Sesshoumaru." Kagome asked again.

Sesshoumaru shook his head lightly, the motion causing his mane of silver hair to shiver and fall still. "I really thought that you would have figured it out by now, Kagome."

Kagome gritted her back teeth. "Figured out _what_?"

"The reason that Orihime is so important to you – the reason that Inuyasha would kill you if you were to discover the truth – is that you _are_ Orihime." Sesshoumaru's voice was strong, and smooth, and it carried the words down easier. "Or. . . you _were_ Orihime."

Kagome paled visibly once more and shook her head in denial. Then, she uttered a single word. "No."

Sesshoumaru nodded gently. "Yes, Kagome. You are Orihime's reincarnation."

Kagome shook her head harder, and coverd her ears with her hands. "No!" She denied. "No! It's not possible!" Kagome said, trying to keep the truth at bay.

"But it _is_ possible, Kagome. And it _ is _ true." Sesshoumaru insisted, using the same calm, patient voice he had always used before.

Kagome shivered, and this time her "no" was weaker. "It's not possible. I'm _Kikyo's_ reincarnation." She said, holding on to the one thing she knew to be true. "And I am Kagome Higurashi. _Not_ Orihime Higurashi."

Sesshoumaru smiled gently, as one might smile at a young child or at a puppy playing. "But you _were _Orihime. . . a long, long time ago. Just like Kikyo was."

Kagome froze here. "Kikyo was. . . Orihime's reincarnation as well?" She didn't bother to phrase her question carefully.

Sesshoumaru nodded. "Yes. And was she loathed to the fact. The resemblance was uncanny. But in your case. . . the resemblance is _frightening._" Sesshoumaru admitted.

Suddenly, a grain of truth hit Kagome. "That's why you came to me. . . the first night. . . because I look like Orihime. Because I _was_ Orihime."

Sesshoumaru froze for only a heart beat before he nodded.

Kagome stared at him in horror, her eyes condeming as she took two awkward steps away from him. "No. . ." it seemed to be her new favorite word. "No."

Sesshoumaru followed her in her retreat, but slowly. "What's wrong, Kagome? Would you like to know that I wanted you to begin with because you looked like her?" he asked as casually as if he was asking for the weather. "Yes. I admit it. I loved her. She was weak. . . and she was human. . . but she was _innocent,_ dammit." The curse word sounded odd, coming from him. Perhaps more so than the cursewords that came from her. "She was naïve. . . and she was sweet. . . and she was _perfect._"

Kagome wanted to scream until her throat was raw and bloody. "Well I'm not, Sesshoumaru!" She exclaimed, her voice cracking as tears began to fall. "I'm not perfect. . . I've got faults, just like everyone else. I hog the sheets . . . and I drink from the carton sometimes. . . and I cheated on a math exam a few weeks ago, but dammit, that shouldn't count!" She stared at him with eyes wide with anguish. "I'm not perfect. . . I bite my nails and I lie and I get a sick sort of pleasure out of sitting Inuyasha. I'm not perfect! And if she was. . . If _I_ was. . . well then. . . I guess she wasn't human." Kagome said with a nodd. "Because being human means accepting your flaws and being the best person you can be, even with them!"

Kagome must have closed her eyes – because in the next instant, Sesshoumaru's palm was flush against her cheek. She was about to scream her indignition at him, but something in his eyes – compassion? No. . . that couldn't be it. . . – made her stop long enough for him to begin speaking.

"I know." The two words were simple, and they placated Kagome's anger and sadness. "Don't you think I know? I _loved_ her. God, I loved her _so_ much. I would have _died_ for her." The tears reformed in Kagome's eyes, but Sesshoumaru didn't stop. "But that was a long, long time ago. I did love her, yes. . . but not for any of the reasons that I love you."

Kagome's heart must have stopped in her chest – because she had died and gone to heaven. "What did you just say?" She asked, sure that she had heard him wrong. She must have! She must have just imagined it –

"I said, I love _you_, Kagome Higurashi." Sesshoumaru tilted her chin up towards him, and kissed each of her eye lids. "I love you for all your faults. . . for all your humanity. . . I love you for reasons I could never, ever love her. I love the way you make my life hell. I love the way you keep me wanting to get up every morning, to get up and see what trouble you'll bring me today. I love the sounds you make when I am inside of you." Kagome blushed a deep red at that one. "But mostly. . . I just love _you._"

And then Kagome did the proper thing, something a dutiful princess/miko reincarnate should always do. Something that would have made herself – in all three lives – proud.

She wrapped her arms around his chest, and slowly stripped him of his armor.

_Anonymous Fangirl: Egads! Kagome's Stripping Sesshoumaru? That almost never happens!  
_

_Kagome: You must be damned good in the sack, Sesshoumaru_

_Sesshoumaru: No fangirl has ever complained. . .a fanboy once said I needed more lubrication_

_Anonymous Fangirl: . . . Have you ever heard of TMI? Review! _


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

It struck Sesshoumaru that this time, if only this time it had been she, rather than he, who had initiated their love making – and with her knowing what she now did, it was safe to call it such.

God, he loved her.

He had questioned it once. . . When Kikyo had been born to the wrong brother. He had watched her from afar, and studied her carefully -–he couldn't afford to mistake someone else for Orihime's reincarnation. He had sworn the day that she had been buried, a solemn oath that only a cold body had heard, that he would wait for an eternity for her to return to him.

And she had – in Kikyo.

Only, Inuyasha had found her first.

She had been strong – much stronger than Orihime had ever been. But she, like Kagome, had been the mirror image of his lover. Her personality, too, had been a twisted, jaded version's of Orihime's own. She had been bred to hate his kind. . . And he had never stopped loving her. But, when he had realized that this Orihime – no, he had never seen her as Orihime – this Kikyo was in love with his brother, he stepped aside.

This mangled version of his dead sweetheart was not who he was waiting for.

He had seen Kagome for the first time – and once again he realized that she had once more been reincarnated to the wrong brother. But, after carefully watching her, learning of all her eccentricities and realizing that she would always be torn about her feelings for his brother, he had plotted to take her for his own. He didn't't want to wait any longer, and he wouldn't be a martyr again just so that she could die a tragic death like Kikyo had.

But after a while. . .

He had stopped thinking of her as a reincarnation. He had stopped thinking of her as Orihime, then he had stopped thinking of her as Kikyo. And eventually, thoughts of everyone else were erased.

She was just. . .

"Kagome." Sesshoumaru whispered in to her hair, and stilled her hands with his. "Kagome, Kagome, Kagome." Her name was a mantra, and he was determined to not break whatever spell she had put over him.

Kagome struggled lightly against his grip, and her breath was now coming in quick, erotic pants. Her body strained against his single-handed grip, and as she fought to touch her body to with his.

He smiled lightly. . . _Kagome._

"May I?" Sesshoumaru asked in an even tone, one she had heard used many times before. He used it when he was trying to maintain his image of impassiveness. But, if Kagome had any illusions about him not wanting her, he cured them with a nudge of his hips to her stomach where she felt something stir and harden.

Kagome whimpered in his hold and tried again to get him to release her. She stared up at him with wide, doe– like eyes, and Sesshoumaru backed her against a tree. Bracing her with his knee so that she couldn't escape, he striped himself of his yellow and blue sash – and used it to tie her hands behind the tree.

Kagome gasped with indignity. "Sesshoumaru!" She cried as she struggled against the bonds of silk in vain.

She saw Kirere for a moment, darting away from them in the trees, probably to give them some privacy. She didn't pay her any more heed."Please, Sesshoumaru! Please, let me touch you." She whimpered and pressed against him at any point that she could – chest, belly, cheek. But it wasn't enough.

With them, few things really were.

Sesshoumaru growled low, and it sounded to Kagome a bit like a cat that was pleased with itself. "Kagome . . . Be patient now." Sesshoumaru kissed her quietly on her brow. "The night is young. . . I'm sure you'll be able to break out of those bonds sooner or later. . . I didn't tie them _too_ tightly." Sesshoumaru smiled wickedly as he pulled a single clawed finger up her forearm and made tiny circles on her neck with his tongue.

Kagome moaned and tossed her head back, but Sesshoumaru never increased the pressure above a tiny touch. He wanted her wanting more.

"_Sesshoumaru?_" It came out high pitched and breathy. Dear God! She hadn't _known_ such sensations existed! Her neck had, by no means, ever been an sexual place in her mind before. . . but, now, it seemed that wherever he touched, a tiny fire was ignited, until soon her whole body was ablaze.

Sesshoumaru lifted his eyes and stared up in to her own under heavy silver brows. Taking one last lap at her neck, he smiled. "Yes, Kagome?" _Lick_ "What do you want?"

Kagome shook her head from side to side, trying to breath. "I. . . I don't know."

Sesshoumaru slid down her body and knelt before her, looking for all the world like Lancelot. "Like the first time?" Slipping his fingers under his armor, he hit a clasp that made it fall to the ground in two pieces. "Or the second. . . or the third. . . or the twentieth?"

Kagome smiled, and shook her head. "Like the last time?"

Sesshoumaru shrugged. "The last time was fine, I guess, but I was thinking-"

"No." Kagome quickly intervened. "Not like _that_ last time. . ."

His brows drew together in confusion. "Then what are you. . ."

Kagome smiled, and knelt down, her arms stretching far above her head. "Love me like it was the _last_ time."

Sesshoumaru reached a single, well manicured hand forward and gently grasped the base of her skull. He rubbed it gently, as if soothing away her worries. "I can promise you next to nothing –"

Kagome shook her head. "I never asked for promises, but-"

"Shh. . ." He bid her, removing his hand from the back of her skull to press against her lips. "Don't speak, Kagome.

"I can promise you next to nothing, but I can promise you this: It will not be the last time." He leaned in and gave her a tiny kiss on the swell of her lips, and then again on the swell of her breasts. "How can it be the last time with us?"

Kagome shrugged, panting and struggling against the sash. "I. . . I could die."

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "That didn't work before, and it wont work again."

Kagome smiled wryly, but only to prevent tears from falling. "You could die."

Sesshoumaru smirked and undid the inner ties of his kimono. "An impossibility, to be sure."

Panting softly, with little thought other than what a beautiful state she was in, Kagome leaned forward hungrily against her bonds. "Kiss me?" She questioned prettily, staring hungrily at his lips.

Even though she knew it was coming, and even though she had been the one to ask for it, she wasn't prepared for his kiss. She could have _never_ been prepared for the searing, demanding kiss that he gave her.

Gone were the kisses of quiet passion. . . gone were the kisses that spoke of _I want to tell you _and _I know._ It was a powerful kiss, a dominant kiss. This was the kiss of a man who knew who he was and _liked _it. Here, in the arms of the man she could openly admit that she loved, she offered herself freely in this raw, unapologetic kiss.

It was exactly the kind of kiss she had always been waiting for.

"Gods, you taste ready." He purred.

She shivered in pleasure as he sucked her lower lip back in to his mouth, nipped it, then closed his mouth hard over hers, diving in too deep. He kissed her like a man that would never kiss her again.

"That's the ticket." She joked shyly when he pulled away again.

Sesshoumaru leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers, panting softly and every few breathes placing a single kiss on her nose.

Lazily, Kagome wondered what she was doing. . . How she had gotten to this point. She had told herself for so long that she hated him that for a while, she had almost believed it. But now, now that she could come to him and not be afraid to cry out that yes, she loved him (so much it hurt!) it was an entirely different experience.

There were more kisses, soft and slow, hot and hard. She was drowning, she knew, in more than a man.

She barely noticed when he cupped a hand beneath her bottom, tilted her hips, and began a slow bump-and-grind dance that they had done so many times in the past, that he assured her that they would do so many more times to come.

Anonymous Fangirl: You know, I actually did mean to make it raunchier than that. . . I guess I'm not as perverted anymore now that I'm. .. dare I say it? Maturing? Well, Sesshoumaru was almost in character in this story. . . nearly. . .

Whatever.

Well, expect about two more chapters (didn't I say that in chapter 7?) But no, I know what's going to happen. Two chapters, MAYBE three.

WARNING: EXTREME ANGST TO COME. IF YOU WANT TO GO ON WITH LIFE THINKING THAT HERE LIE SESSHOUMARU AND KAGOME, A LITTLE SLEEPY AND A WHOLE LOT IN LOVE, THEN DO SO. BUT THERE WILL BE ANGST IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!! EXPECT IT!!!

Chapter Thirteen will be posted on December 18th, 2006! Look for it!


	13. Chapter 13

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**

When Kagome would look back on that day in the years to come (and yes, she did look back. . . often) she would be surprised that there was no pain, just a drowning, empty black hole that was completely devoid of emotion. No sadness, no anger, and no regrets. She had always wondered how people could be considered all, no one could be completely devoid of _any _feeling.

At least, that's what she thought.

But then, she had also thought that they would live together forever.

The thing that had always struck her as odd though, was that he hadn't been the one who had woken up first. . . it had been her. What with demonic hearing and all, she had expected him to have woken up in time to stop them. . .

But either his hearing wasn't nearly as good as she had always been under the impression of, or she had exhausted him so completely that he just hadn't the strength to wake up first.

She would think that she preferred the prior of the two, because it put less blame on her.

But whatever the reason, and whatever the cause, Kagome had been the one who had woken up first, probably from the cold. The sun was shining through the trees, blinding her for the first few moments of her awakening, but the sun shouldn't stop the cold.

When she thought back on the occasion, she would have liked to think that it was the chill of the bad things that lay ahead. . . but it was much more likely it was her lack of dress than anything else.

The morning was quiet, if not cold. She smiled, and rolled away from Sesshoumaru, who was cradling her to his body and on to her back. Giving him a sideways glance, her first morning thought was a dirty one.

_Perhaps she would wake him up with a kiss._ She thought. _And have that kiss set the mood for the rest of the day. _

Her thoughts, though, were interrupted when she heard the _chink _of metal. . . of a sword being unsheathed. . . and then felt the cold steel pressed hard against her naked throat.

"Don't scream." Inuyasha whispered harshly. "If you take in too deep of a breath, I'll slice your throat."

Kagome lay there in a state of shock, too scared to be embarrassed of her nudity. _Why was Inuyasha here? _She wondered. She gave the sword a glance. . . _it wasn't the Tetsusaiga! _

"It's Sango's." Inuyasha said proudly, tilting the tip just enough that it broke her skin. "I knew that Tetsusaiga could never hurt you, a human, so I. . . borrowed this for a while. Not that she'll notice. She never uses the thing!"

Next to her, Sesshoumaru sniffed a bit, and then reached out lazily to wrap his arm around her waist. "Mive more minutes." He grumbled, nearly incoherent.

Inuyasha shook his head. "I could have killed you already, and your lover sleeps on."

Kagome sniffed, tears welling in her eyes. "Why are you doing this, Inuyasha?" And then suddenly, she remembered a few month prior, when life was easy and she would have never suspected Inuyasha of ever hurting her.

_"You know." Sesshoumaru whispered coldly in the night, the tip of Tokijiin resting heavily on her throat. "I could have already killed you, and your companions sleep on." _

_"Why are you doing this, Sesshoumaru?" Kagome sniffled, as she tried to fight the tears welling in her eyes. "If it's the Tetsusaiga you want, then don't be foolish! Inuyasha would never trade it for me!" She lied. Of course he would. Because Kagome knew, deep down in her heart, that Inuyasha really did love her. _

_Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. "And what, human, would I do with a sword that I can not wield?" _

_Kagome's pulse jumped in her throat, and she gulped heavily. "Then what do you want, Sesshoumaru?" _

_Sesshoumaru's gaze lingered down her body, and then the sword followed. The sharp blade cut easily through clothes, and would have cut just as easily through bone. Though it was Kagome's body that was bared to the cool night, but he was the one who shivered. _

_"I want. . ." _

"I want Kikyo's soul back." Inuyasha said, his gaze lingering down her body, a sneer on his face. "I once would have given anything to see you like this." Inuyasha admitted, easing the pressure of the sword on her throat. "But now. . ."

_To the crowd,_

There was no warning. One second, the sword had been lifting from her body, and the next. . .

_To the World,_

Sesshoumaru, wearing only his pants, had Inuyasha pinned against a tree, his claws at his throat and a feral expression in his face.

_You were so dry_

Kagome watched Sesshoumaru's hand tighten a bit. For a moment, she would have sworn that she saw a lingering trace of sadness. . . but then, his eyes took on an angry tilt, and Inuyasha stopped moving.

_And with a token butter maid_

Sesshoumaru walked away, and Inuyasha fell to the ground, a hole where his throat had been.

_Sent it to fly_

The stench of acid and flesh was hot in the air, and Kagome just sat there, trembling, as the last few tendons that held Inuyasha's held in place burned away, separating the head from the body.

_Right to your side_

"Inu. . . Yasha. . ." Kagome whispered quietly. If she wasn't already sitting, she would

have fallen to her knees.

_With the broken wing you saved_

"He deserved what he got." Sesshoumaru said, flicking away a bit of lingering poison.

_Oh, like winter in July_

Kagome didn't agree. She didn't anything. The world simply stopped existing.

_A barren river wide_

In the beginning, it had been her and Inuyasha. The heroine and the hero. And they were meant to be together, right? All heroines and heroes who fought on epic quests were supposed to be destined for each other. And Sesshoumaru. . . he had been a villain, who had tried to steal from them and kill them.

_I'll pray for the flood to wash on you_

The gravity of everything that had happened in the last few months suddenly hit her, and she felt nothing but a vague Inuyasha-shaped hold where her heart had once been.

_It's here I'll be with you _

_NO! _A part of her insisted. . . the very same part that had told her to fight back against a silver haired menace in a cave all those years ago. _Get a grip of yourself! Inuyasha was the enemy, and now the enemy is dead! _

_Where can the birds reach the sky? _

Kagome found herself smiling sardonically up at Sesshoumaru. "I think that maybe he at least deserves to be buried." She said calmly, trying to hide her fears.

_To this land, I'll be with you_

Sesshoumaru lifted the corners of his lips, and reached down to her. "I woke up, and he was there, and I suddenly felt _scared _that I would lose you again, and –"

_Till the sun burst from your side _

_'FWIPT'. _

_With my hands I'll reach for you_

Sesshoumaru was staggered back a few steps, before the arrow that had landed on his chest had pinned him to a tree.

_When you think your chance is passing by_

Kagome heard a scream that sounded surprisingly like her own. She saw a girl rush forward who looked a lot like her. She would later realize that she was having an out of body experience, like the ones she used to laugh at on cheap knock off sci- fi reruns. She looked back behind her (weird, she didn't _remember_ running towards Sesshoumaru, yet there she was!) and she saw Kikyo, her bow angled away from her, with a sad sort of smile on her face.

_When you blow your mood away_

"You know," Kikyo whispered pitifully. "I was supposed to be the one who killed Inuyasha."

_I'll bleed like the rain_

And to Kagome's horror, the girl whose face had so resembled her own, began to weep. And as the tears fell, they washed away a little more of her face. . . and then a little more. . . until the girl that had looked so much like herself was nothing more than a collapsing

pile of mud and clay, disintegrating in quickly upon itself.

_I'll fall with your knife_

"Ka. . . Kagome." Sesshoumaru coughed out, a little bit of blood.

_It's here, I'll be with you_

Kagome's head turned so quickly she gave herself whiplash, and she smiled at Sesshoumaru.

_To the crowd_

"Hey." She said happily. "Kikyo's shot these sealing arrows before, and I've pulled them out! No problem! I'll have you out in a minute!"

_To the world_

Kagome grabbed the arrow, and pulled.

_You were so dry_

The arrow, red and bloody, glistened in the morning sun.

_And with a token butter maid_

_That's funny. . . _Kagome thought _Inuyasha's arrow didn't have any blood on it. . . _

_Sent it to fly_

"It wasn't a sealing arrow." Sesshoumaru said, slumping to his knees. "It was a purifying arrow."

_Right to your side_

Kagome felt the blood rush to her ears, and then stop.

_With the broken wing you saved_

A purifying arrow. . .

_Oh like winter in July_

She laughed pitifully, through hot, wet tears. "But. . . you're Sesshoumaru! You're strong! You can survive anything! No way a purifying arrow could ever –"

_A barren river wide_

He lifted a finger to her lips, and blood began to pass from his. "At least I got to see you."

_I'll pray for the flood to wash on you_

He whispered sadly. "At least I got to tell you how much I love you."

_It's here I'll stay with you_

He leaned in silently, and pressed his rapidly cooling lips to hers. "At least I didn't have to watch you leave me twice."

_It's here I'll be with you_

And then he fell.

_I'll fall_

And Kagome was sure she had died, too.

_I'll fall with your knife. . . _


	14. Epilogue

**_Epilogue_**

Sometimes Kagome wished that she could turn back the clocks on the day before Kikyo had shot Sesshoumaru, just to see him one last time.

She had asked him to love her like it was the last time, thinking that his kisses would never end. If she could go back, she would have asked her to love her like it was the first time. . . like they were innocent, and in love. Like he hadn't forced her, naked, from her camp the first time. That he hadn't cheated, lied and manipulated to get her beneath him. Like they were normal, like they were happy. . . Like they would be happy from then to forever more.

And sometimes, when she was feeling particularly depressed, she would get a little angry with him that he had made her a promise. . . one promise. . . and he hadn't kept it.

_"It'll never be the last time with us." _

Kagome boarded the train at the station, the same as she did every day to get to college. She had been surprised that she had passed high school. But, when all was said and done, she knew that if she hadn't kept herself busy with all the work she had to make up, she would have probably just ended up drowning in sorrow. . .

_She was drowning in more than a man. . . _

Kagome shivered, and looked out the window. So much had changed, since that one day. So much. . .

_DING! _

The intercom of the train came on loudly, telling the passengers that the engine was malfunctioning, and that they would be asking people to exit at the next stop.

Kagome cast a glance at a map, and to see if she could walk to class and make it. Ten miles separated her from her school, and she sighed. '_No school for me, today.'_

As she exited the train, an attendant offered her apologies and gave her a free train token.

Kagome accepted it and found another schedule to see when the next train home was.

Seeing that it would be three hours till her train came, Kagome sighed.

Her sigh, though, was lost among the sea of people, hustling and bustling, packed like sardines in the tiny building. Her pulse raised, and suddenly she felt so homesick for Sesshoumaru's arms that she thought she might throw up.

Hurriedly, she pushed her way out of the crowded building and into the bright sunlight. She gasped, temporarily blinded by it. But she blinked a few times, and her vision clicked back in to place.

She was surprised to see that there was a park outside of the train station, secluded and shaded and nearly empty.

_Of course it's empty. . . _Kagome thought sarcastically _everyone's at work or school now, just like I should be. . ._

Remembering that she had three hours to blow, Kagome sauntered slowly down the stairs of the train station and in to the gates of the park.

It was a nice park, the trees muffling the sounds of the city. She closed her eyes and listened to the near silence. . . the few cars she heard, she convinced herself were the tiny waterfalls of Sengoku Jidai. The sun that shone through her lids was not hidden in smog, the smell of the city practically vanished. . .

A motorcycle screamed past the park, and her temporary illusion was broken.

Kagome sighed heavily, relieved at least that she could hear that, and sat down on a bench.

_I wish Sesshoumaru was here now. . ._ she thought, cupping her chin in her palm. She smiled. Now, when she thought of him, it was usually triggered by something. After all, five years had passed since then and that was enough time to begin to heal even the deepest of wounds.

It was nice to just sit back and remember him sometimes, too.

"Is this seat taken?"

Kagome jumped and made a slight _eep_ sound. And stared. And _stared. _

The man who had interrupted her musings was tall. . . at least a foot taller than her. His hair, which some would call albino, but most would call platinum, was shorter than when she had last seen him, cut just above his chin so it lay in easy waves.

"Sesshoumaru?" She whispered quietly, standing quickly. It had to be him! No one else could look so alike, or have that same slow drawl, or stare at her like she actually mattered. . .

"Sorry, lady." The man said, running a hand – _Sesshoumaru's hand –_ through his hair. "You must have me confused with someone else. My name is Jin. I come by here sometimes before I take the train."

Kagome shook her head, feeling nauseous all over again. "Yes. . . I'm sorry. That must be it."

Because as she stared at him, she began to realize that it wasn't him. . . his eyes, which had first struck her as gold, were flecked with brown. His cheekbones, normally so high, were fuller and unmarked, making him look more a man and less a demon. But still. . .

"The resemblance is _frightening._" Kagome said, echoing the words Sesshoumaru had once spoken to her.

"Is it now?" Jin said, smiling. "Well, Miss. . ."

"Kagome." She answered. "Hard on the second syllable. Ka–go–me."

Jin nodded. "Well, Ka-Go-Me, would you mind if I sat a while?" He asked, not bothering to wait for an answer.

Sesshoumaru wouldn't have even asked.

Kagome shook her head, and sat down as well. And after a few moments of silence. . .

"Would you like to hear a story?" Kagome blurted out before she even knew what she was thinking.

Jin looked at his watch, and nodded. "Sure. My train isn't here for at least another hour and a half."

Kagome took a deep breath. _I could laugh, _she thought. _Say that I was kidding. Ask him out for a cup of coffee. Walk away. Anything but tell the story. . . _

But then, there was a warm feeling on the back of her neck. The sun, which had been shining so brightly, had moved just enough to warm her. It wasn't much, but it reminded her of someone else. . . someone else who had tried to comfort her. . .

"Once upon a time there was a Demon Lord who was so kind, the girl that fell in love with him would do anything to please him. . ."

Maybe Sesshoumaru hadn't lied to her after all. . .


End file.
